Overcoming the Enemies of a Christian. Enemy #3: The World
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We have been talking about the enemies of a
Christian from Matthew 13 and the “Parable of the Sower”. In this parable – the farmer is trying to
plant the seed in the ground and there are 3 obstacles to that effort: the hardened
soil, the shallow soil, and the crowded soil.
Jesus uses this story to illustrate God’s efforts to get His word in our
hearts. In verse 19 he relates the seed
on the wayside to the “wicked one”, or the attack of the devil. In verse 20, He relates the stony ground to a
problem with the hearer “hath not root in himself”. The last enemy is “the seed planted among the
weeds/thorn bushes, that choke it out".
It is described in verse 22 as the “care of the world, and the deceitfulness
of riches”. Let’s talk for a few minutes
about this last enemy of the world.
This last enemy is both an internal
and external enemy. I think that
the enemy of the world represents a couple of categories. The form that this enemy takes is the internal
struggle of worry & anxiety and the temptation of materialism, and the external
pressure put on us to give in to those temptations. In the God’s Word version, verse 22 reads “but
the worries of life and the deceitful pleasure of riches choke the word so that
it can’t produce anything”. I think that
the problem is a combination of the internal struggle to not allow the routines
of life and the temptation of materialism to overshadow and crowd out our spiritual
growth. I think that this struggle is greatly
amplified by the pressure that is put on us by the people around us who have already
given in to those temptations and are trying to get us to do the same.
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In Matthew Henry’s commentary, he connects
this parable to the “Parable of the Weeds” in the very next verses. He states: “Who are these “weeds”? Jesus
would soon explain that the weeds are the people who belong to the evil one
(vs. 38). They may be people in the
church who appear to be believers, but who never truly believe. They are also people outside the church that
try and put pressure on us to put our attention somewhere else.
Someone once said that there are three
responses to the gospel. You can accept
it, you can reject it, or you can neglect it. This last enemy is the temptation to let
other things in life cause you to neglect the gospel.
Hebrews 2:3 reads “How shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation.” As we work our jobs and live
our lives and interact with the people around us – it is so easy to get distracted
and lose the priority of our faith. In
Matthew 6:33, it states “But seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Jesus was saying in this passage that we do
not need to worry about the cares of life if we are following him. The “things” that He is talking about in this
passage are mentioned in the previous verses.
They are food, clothing, and shelter. Sometimes there is a ton of pressure put on us
to compromise our faith in order to get more and more and more! People will tell us that in order to get what
we need in life, as well as a few “greeds”, we need to work excessively, compromise
our life and language, not be too enthusiastic about our faith, “go with the
flow”, or any other of the many temptations around us.
As Christians, we have the Spirit of Jesus living
inside us, but we too often let the fallen nature that is also inside us dictate our actions. In the very
beginning of His ministry, Jesus made the following statement in Matthew 16:24 “if
any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow me.” I think that there are principles
in this verse to overcome all the enemies of a Christian. The first step is to follow Christ. You overcome the Satanic attack by submitting
to Christ. The next step is to deny
himself. You overcome the internal
attack of self, by surrendering all areas of your life to Christ. We allow His influence into every area of our
life. We overcome the last enemy by taking
up our cross and keeping our attention on the Lord and serving Him. Sometimes our walk with God does not involve
any type of inconvenience, difficulty, or pain, but sometimes it does. In order for you to follow the Lord and not fall
under the influence of materialism or peer pressure – it might cause some lost
friendships, some pain of criticism, or some rejection by others because you
do not fit into their patterns. This is
called “taking up your cross”.
I think that one of the keys to not falling
into the trap of materialism is to be thankful for what you have, learn to be
content, and use some of your resources to invest in eternal things. Sometimes when we watch T.V. commercials and
programs, we may become discontent with what we have. The media can also play a role in the
pressure that is put on us to always be wanting more. I decided a long time ago that in order to be
like the early Christians who were very loving and shared what they had with
others – that I would need to try and live “beneath my means”. I have lived this way for a long time, and it
has been a big blessing for me. People
that live beyond their means can be under a lot of financial pressure, and that
can be very unhealthy. I have enjoyed
not having that kind of pressure in my life.
There is a great verse in 1 Timothy 6:6 “Godliness with contentment is
great gain.”
I think one of the keys to not being overwhelmed
by external peer pressure is to build up the inner man in Christ by reading His
word and by applying it to your life. Then
you can build up the internal pressure that can be stronger than the pressure
that is put on you by others. This is
the message of Romans 12:2a (MKJV) “And do not be conformed to this world
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” To be conformed means to be changed by
external pressures. To be transformed means to be changed from the inside out.
Here is a visual representation of these words.
I have said a lot in this blog about
overcoming the enemy of the world. I
hope it has been helpful. There is a lot
more that can be said. I hope that you
will also develop various personal techniques that help you to stand against
the pressures of the world and live for Christ.
God bless you as you do.
Written by Lee Malden 2022
For more information: email lmalden@hotmail.com
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